Writing about writing

Web-less Wednesdays

Be it resolved – I will have web-less Wednesdays. It’s hard to even type those words, but necessary and they do have a certain ring to them. A day’s fast from the internet – from checking my current ranking on Amazon, from dropping into my favourite Facebook groups, from checking out my WordPress stats and reading posts by all the bloggers I follow (and by the way, find totally fascinating), from keeping up with emails, from Tweeting, or popping into Goodreads, or LinkedIn, or any of the sites that have become part of my daily agenda.

No web on Wednesday – period. Wherein lays the anxiety? What do I worry about? That I’ll miss something really important that requires me to reply online within moments of hearing?

Come on – how likely is it that George (@strombo) is going to read one of my tweets (he has over 300,000 followers – can you imagine how fast his Twitter feed must move) and then go to my blog and then follow the link to my book and read it while he is waiting at an airport or flying around the country (seemingly weekly) and then decide that he wants to interview me on his very fabulous nightly CBC George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight Showand I must respond the second he sends me a direct tweet?

Well – he did favourite one of my tweets on the weekend – I said his news website rocked, but seriously, all you guys should check it out – the guy literally has his finger on the pulse of trending.

Someone told me that if I’m going to dream, why not dream big – something like this: The popular US talk show host Jon Stewart asks me to be on his show. But come on – I’m Canadian, hey! And George and I are like connected – he follows me on Twitter. Where there is life (and a Twitter follower) there is hope. After all, I often ask myself – What would George think? (or say, or do, or Tweet, or eschew)

But back to my question – how likely is it that I would need to respond to anything that fast? You are absolutely right – not very damn likely!

A web-less Wednesday means time to spend walking, thinking and reflecting, cooking and taking time to eat what’s cooked with enjoyment, interacting with real people (and maybe even this decrepit old dog), and writing – yes – writing!

I have heard from a few people who say the very best promotion for a first book is to produce the next book in a timely fashion. Without time to just slow down and ponder, I’m not sure how that will happen. Drawing a line firmly in the sand to allow a break from the exciting and hyperactive world that is always streaming on the social media platform seems like a good start. And what’s one day – right?

If you see me on the internet on Wednesday – give me what for and I mean that!

Don’t check this message on Wednesday – Fran would you be interested in making a presentation to Eldercollege some time in the future, about the trials of being a writer or something like that. Let me know – Maggie. Call me about it maybe.

I think it’s a fabulous idea, and I do it quite often, out of necessity…. for my health. Sometimes, ya just got to disconnect. Before the internet and all the social media tools, I used to take my phone off the hook, on the weekends.

Good for you – I need to learn to balance my web/non-web use. My trouble is looking at the blogs I follow – I get so overwhelmed and then I don’t look at any. Perhaps, opposite of you, I should set aside one day for simply that…and laundry be damned!

Good idea – get it all over with in one day 🙂 I managed my first web-less Wednesday right up until around 5:00pm when I found myself checking emails – but drew the line at anything else. Next week, I’ll try for the entire 24 hours. We’ll see.

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